Services
From a single story to a full research report.
The outcome changes. The core skill does not: ask a worthwhile question, obtain the right evidence, find the result that matters and communicate it clearly.
Stories for media
Original stories, ready for the newsroom.
For editors and journalists who need more than a press release or a pile of figures. RecordSignal can take a commission from the first editorial question through data acquisition, verification and analysis to a clean evidence pack with a strong, supportable angle.
Who it is for
- National and regional newspapers
- Magazines, broadcasters and digital publications
- Editors developing an investigation
- Individual journalists who need research capacity
What RecordSignal does
- Generates or sharpens the original story idea
- Designs and coordinates Freedom of Information requests
- Finds, joins, cleans and checks public datasets
- Tests the angle against the underlying evidence
- Seeks context, caveats and verification before delivery
What you receive
- A clearly stated finding and proposed news angle
- A structured, analysis-ready dataset where relevant
- Method notes, source links and key caveats
- Supporting figures, examples and lines for follow-up
- Research presented in an editorially useful format
Possible projects
- A multi-force police FOI investigation
- A council-by-council public-record survey
- A new analysis of government spending or regulation
- A dataset built to test a newsroom hunch
- Fact-checking and verification for a developing story
Research that makes news
Give journalists something worth reporting.
For organisations that want a media campaign to rest on genuinely interesting evidence. RecordSignal develops original, defensible findings that give journalists a reason to engage—and, where editorially appropriate, to credit the organisation behind the work.
Who it is for
- PR and communications agencies
- Businesses and trade associations
- Charities and campaign organisations
- Organisations with data but no clear media finding
What RecordSignal does
- Turns a campaign theme into an answerable research question
- Coordinates FOI requests across public authorities
- Constructs new datasets from scattered public sources
- Analyses government statistics, surveys or client data
- Identifies the strongest finding without overstating it
What you receive
- A robust headline finding and supporting evidence
- A clean dataset with documented sources and methodology
- Secondary cuts, regional detail and usable examples
- Plain-English interpretation and important limitations
- Material that can support a credible media pitch or campaign
Possible projects
- A national FOI campaign revealing local variation
- A new ranking or index built from public data
- An original analysis of regulatory or spending records
- Media-friendly findings from a client's existing dataset
- Independent analysis of commissioned survey results
Reports & analysis
Rigorous research, clearly communicated.
For questions that need more depth than a newspaper article or media campaign. RecordSignal combines quantitative analysis, economic reasoning, evidence review and long-form writing to produce substantial work that is ready to publish.
Who it is for
- Think tanks and research organisations
- Businesses and policy teams
- Charities and trade bodies
- Communications agencies with long-form research briefs
What RecordSignal does
- Defines the research question and analytical framework
- Reviews literature, policy and source evidence
- Builds and interrogates quantitative models or datasets
- Combines empirical findings with economic and policy reasoning
- Writes, edits and structures the finished argument
What you receive
- A publication-ready report or substantial briefing
- Transparent methods, sources and references
- Clear tables, charts and data visualisation where useful
- An executive summary built around the real findings
- Editing and presentation of complex quantitative material
Possible projects
- An economic cost or counterfactual analysis
- A policy report built from official statistics
- A literature and evidence review
- A public-data investigation requiring long-form treatment
- A research paper that translates technical findings for a wider audience
“Interesting” is not a substitute for defensible. “Defensible” is not a substitute for interesting.
RecordSignal is designed to do both. Research for media must withstand scrutiny without losing the human question at its centre. Coverage can never be guaranteed, and it should not be. The work creates strong evidence and a credible reason for journalists to care.
Choose the outcome
Story, campaign or report?
If the answer is not obvious yet, start with the question. RecordSignal can help define the right scope before the research begins.
Discuss a project